COMMON MISTAKES. II
no article. Altogether our grammatical categories do not fit the Japanese language well. They have only been adhered to in this work in so far as they may serve as landmarks familiar to the student.
10. In conclusion, the following warnings concerning errors into which European speakers of Japanese are apt to fall, may be found useful :
Do not confound long and short vowels. (See IF 13.) Do not use personal pronouns too freely. (See 1f 71.) Do not insert the postposition no between an adjective and the noun to which it belongs. (See 1i 208.)
Do not apply honorifics to yourself. For me to ask any one, for instance, to shinjo something to myself, or to haiken something belonging to myself, would be as if I should say : " Have the honour to give it to me," or " Have the honour to look at this thing belonging to me." As explained in Chap. XI, honorifics can only be applied to other people, and humble terms must be used in speaking of oneself. I shinjo (lit. " respectfully lift up") something to you ; but I ask you to kudasai (lit. "condescend") something to me. I haiken (lit. "ador- ingly look at") something belonging to you : but I ask you to goran nasai (lit. " august glance deign")'something be- longing to me. (See II 405.) If you hear beggars in the street shouting after you to shinjo a copper to them, it is only because, having learnt from experience that foreigners constantly misuse the honorifics, they think to ingratiate themselves and to be more easily under- stood by doing likewise. Were they addressing a Japan- ese, they would never dream of saying anything so rude and so absurd.
